The Forsaken
by SubjectC
Summary: the Unknown story of Mithrax, the Forsaken. a Eliksni captain that has a change of heart after an encounter with the Young Wolf
1. Chapter 1

**The Forsaken**

A captain's story of light from the dark

Through the dark tunnels of this old human structure, long since degraded and overgrown by Vile Hive flesh and rock, an Eliksni Captain slinks ever closer to his target. This Former wolf, taken in by what was left over from the scraps of the Houses, under the banner of Dusk, was given one important mission: locate and secure a power source, from which may be utilized to charge and power a great many servitors. Over the course of this quest he had come into some trouble with a human light-bearer who seemed to be after the same thing. Over many encounters, he had bested them at each step. The pitiful humans of the past had stupidly left breadcrumbs leading directly to this object.

"Power, I've found the source. This is good" as the lone captain entered a large room, with methane coolant pools keeping power coils from overheating, he observed a glowing light coming from the far wall.

"this is it. Maybe I will be given a larger Ether ration for this." As the Fallen approached the power cell, he saw out of the corner of his eyes a Knight, one of the largest Hive he's seen on this rig, come out of the shadows behind him. It came charging with a protective rage. It was all it took to keep composure, he would not fall to this brute, not after all the trouble it was to even learn of this secret reactor.

"come at me!" he yelled, in his native tongue. He drew is twin shock blades, much more elegant than the brutish rock those Hive call a sword. Just before they locked Steel, he signaled his last barrier servitor to lock the room, the guardian would not intrude. The first clash resulted in a simple chip from the chitin armor of the Knight, and cut on the captains hide, followed by a relentless flurry of blows. This is why he survived for so long, in this age of constant falling, the numbers of his once noble race falling quickly.

As he had expected, his Automatic SHort-range Teleportation Engine, or ASHTE for short, ran out of charge. It was just standard dodging from now on, this battle felt like it dragged on forever.

His cloak in tatters, and armor dented into scrap, the Fallen could just barely swing his swords, and move out of the way of the Knight's lumbering movements, out of nowhere, a few shots from a human weapon obliterated the Hive. The guardian has found him, and wants the Generator.

_This is it. I pry to the great machine that my death be swift. _But that death would never come. The guardian stared for a few seconds, then lowered their gun. Mercy was something that was never known to come from a human before. Kindness had only come from someone long gone now. Holding his blades up in a defensive stance, the Captain breathed a sigh of relief, and spoke, -

"you win. This is yours" the Fallen roared one last time before taping on his wrist-mounted transport beacon, and beamed up to his ship. This one experience, may one day change the course of the Eliksni race forever.


	2. Chapter 2: a captain's dilemma

**The Forsaken**

Chapter 2: A captain's dilemma

As the effects of the transmat waned, Mithrax looked around. This Skiff, awarded to him when he was promoted to the rank of Captain, was now empty. He had wasted his entire crew on this quest for the Rig's reactor core.

"why did that human spare me? I've attacked them so much…" he muttered to himself has he reached the ships bridge. The ship was a bit larger than standard Skiffs, as he wasn't of a large enough rank for a ketch, but his crew is-… was loyal. All that was left of his crew was one lone Ether servitor, modified to only produce Ether. Mithrax sat in his captain's chair, and headed out to space. Once they reached a stable orbit, the captain got up to go get a drink.

"Syivax, dispense a quart of Ether", the servitor began whirring before producing a faintly glowing white liquid. The Ether drifted a couple inches until finally landing in a canteen nearby.

"getting low on resources, aren't you? This mix isn't very pure." Nonetheless, the Fallen picked up the canteen and took a swig. As the Ether dripped down from his mouth, his mind began to wander. That guardian certainty must have been angry for constantly being one-upped by him. No human has ever shown an Eliksni mercy, or restraint before.

_**Brrggragg**_ the servitor growls, as if to say yes.

"the only matter that could work is this armor stuff" he placed a few larger slivers of Chitin armor on a nearby table. He was lucky enough to collect it during the battle earlier.

Syivax floated over to the table, and began emanating a purple light. The molecules of the armor flecked off, and were absorbed into its chassis. This process took just under a minute. The servitor then hovered to the back of the ship, to process the new matter into Ether.

"eh, this ship isn't a good place to think. Too much noise." Mithrax rubbed his temples, giving a low sigh. Over the humming of the engines, constant beeps and clicks of the electronics, and the gurgling of Syivax, he'd been trying to think of what could have compelled that guardian to lower their gun. All the time, his mind slowly wandered to thoughts of a moon of the planet know to humans as Jupiter. The humans were known to travel to this moon a lot, at least until the lumbering rhinos, the cabal, took over at the beginning of the year.

"yes… that would be a good place to start." Said the captain, as he went over to his chair. He started tapping on many displays, some with system metrics, but one in particular had a map of the solar system.

"Syivax, prepare for subspace jump" Mithrax said, as he pulled two levers to his sides. The surrounding space began to melt, giving way to a colorful tunnel of light. Just one minute passes until everything slows down, revealing a large moon, tinted a sickly green. Mithrax could sense remnants of Machine energies coming from the moon. It was like the stories of when the machine once came to the homeworld. Bursts of life energy changing everything. When it was done, the process would begin anew on a different planet.

"it's like, it never finished, Syivax. The Great machine stopped here", he flew down to the surface, taking note of a large cybernetic structure.

"ugh, those robots infect everything. They smear the good name of machines everywhere", the servitor whirred in agreement. Mithrax flew across the moon, eventually settling in an undeveloped area. The Skiff landed in the middle of medium-sized crater, only a few spots of vex technology littered the ground.

"I can feel the life-energy stronger down here… it feels good", he kicked a broken robot arm, while holstering his guns, and ordered Syivax to stay on the ship. As he slowly walked across the rocky landscape, he took note of all the bones, sticking up around the area.

"all these bones… how many beasts died here? They must have been big…", as he summited a large hill, he noticed the large vex building he took note of earlier. It was like a huge triangle, rising out of the otherwise natural landscape. There were so many cabal ships flying around.

'_better avoid that place for now'_ Mithrax decided to go away from the structure, all the while noticing many guardians in the distance dealing with the Dark forces and their blight. All the time, he felt pulled towards _something_, but he didn't know exactly what it was. He proceeded towards it, when he was attacked by a large patrol of Vex.

"gaaagh! I didn't even notice them! What do you want?!" he shouted, darting behind a rock. The vex halted in place, shooting all the time.

"get away!" Mithrax grabbed a shock grenade from his belt, pulled the timed trigger, and chucked it at one group. It made an audible **clang **against the robot's body, before exploding in electricity. The goblins sparked and jolted, before falling over, dead. Mithrax loaded his guns next, and shot the next batch, leaving just a hobgoblin and a minotaur left.

"you picked the wrong Eliksni to make angry" he jumped out of his hiding place, snow scorched by the slap rifle's energy bolts, and drew his swords. He spun his blades in such a way to block the incoming fire, moving out of the way from the minotaur's shots. When he reached the hob, it tried to hit him with a pulse from its hand, but the captain ducked under it.

"that was your last try" in one swift movement, he swung both shock blades, bisected the robot's torso from his legs. Next up was the minotaur. Just as he tried the same thing twice, it caught the fallen by surprise, bashing him over the head with the butt of it's gun.

"ghuagh!" Mithrax spat out blood, and fell down. Dazed, he noticed just in time, the Vex winding up to impale him with its hand. He put up his swords to block it, then used a wrist mounted knife to puncture a Radiolaria tube. White goo spurted from the minotaur's arm, and covered Mithrax. Wincing through the stinging sensation, he impaled the hidden casing in the robot's stomach. It fell down in a slump, with more Radiolaria pooling around.

"stupid machines. Never underestimate a captain." Wiping the residue away with some cloth, he stood up, and continued his trek. Passing by a large rock outcropping, he heard the sound of a human Pike, he dove behind a large tree stump before being seen.

"that was close", he muttered.

_about 2 miles later_

After more close calls with guardians, and dodging passed more vex patrols, he finally came to a large rock structure. The stone was different from the craggily green stone, this was smooth and white. There were many openings in the walls of this mysterious structure.

"woah. It's like what the Great machine looks like" said the captain, awestruck by it. He walked into the great walls, working towards the center. There, he found a large pool, radiating light, with some green vegetation around it.

"it's beautiful…." Mithrax wandered to the edge of the water, and crouched down. Admiring his reflection in the glow, when he heard a voice coming from behind him.

"you! Fallen scum! This is a holy place! Get. Away. From. THE LIGHT!"


	3. Chapter 3: the warlock

**The Forsaken**

**Chapter 3: The Warlock**

Mithrax turned around to face the guardian who yelled at him, standing there, with his gun pointed right at Mith's face.

"back away from the pool. Slowly" the captain did as ordered, slowly walking over to one of the bushes at the edge of the vegetation. He then kneeled down, arms up.

"Human, Misraaks means no harm." The guardian, stood there, surprised. Every Fallen he's come across has wanted blood, much less had knowledge of English. This Fallen, who had such audacity to come into the center of the Cradle, just surrendered on the spot.

"how much English do you understand?"

"small" replied Mithrax, with the characteristic Growl of a not-so-fluent Eliksni. He started to move for his Canteen of Ether, which was still on his belt. The Warlock moved his gun swiftly, not liking this movement.

"ether" said mith, unbinding the ether canteen, then taking a swig.

"d-don't you breathe that stuff?" the guardian was very confused, all the fallen had tubes, and rebreathers to supply their Ether. Mithrax did not have such an apparatus.

"dirty" growled Mith. The purity of Ether determines its state, if it's really pure, it's like a white gas, but if it's impure, it's like a liquid.

"let Misraaks go. I was curious." The captain motioned to an opening in the wall. A minute passed of just staring. The warlock conceded, but not without giving a warning.

"if I find you here again, I will not hesitate in making your head explode. Got that?" Mithrax nodded, then ran out. It was short, but his time in that place, made him feel invigorated. Being so close to a place filled with life-energy, reminded him like incredibly pure Ether, so pure and radiant, it wasn't like a gas, but rather like a force.

"Syivax, I need a transport" he said over a radio, and in no time the captain's Skiff appeared overhead. As fast as it came, he was transported into the bridge. The Servitor gurgled with happiness at seeing Mith again. Mithrax slumped in his chair. He'd found some answers, but left with even more.

"the humans are so protective of anywhere the great Machine was." The Eliksni mulled over what he had learned. The Machine stopped on that moon. Left it partially changed, and loads of the life-energy from it was left over.

"thinking is too hard right now. I'm too tired." Mithrax slumped in his chair, then slowly drifted to sleep.

A hawk flies over the Last city, landing on the windowsill owned by a warlock guardian. Twirling a pen in his fingers, it's hard trying to think of how to write down the events of the day, since memory isn't something easy to come by lately.

_Today, it was a standard patrol on Io. The Taken are clinging onto that moon like mold to fruit, no matter how many you get rid of, they just keep coming. The cabal have stopped drilling since the vanguard and their pet guardian killed Gaul. I noticed a fallen trying to sneak into the Cradle, possibly to try and steal the residual light there. He was really weird though, he surrendered as soon as I made myself known, and didn't even try to attack me when I wasn't looking._

He trailed off in thought, WHY did that fallen not attack him? It was so strange. Nonetheless, this journal was assigned to him as a better way to deliver mission reports to Ikora, since his memory was spotty. Closing the book, he got up to leave his apartment. He wasn't one of those sleepless, work-work-work guardians, he likes to be around the citizens, all the laughing and joy made him feel like guardian work was worth all the dying over and over.

"good morning Mr. Ganjes!"

"morning Elys! How goes the patrols?" asked a nice middle-aged Awoken, who was vending newspapers on the streets.

"just your standard aliens, trying to shoot me." Replied the warlock, with a smile.

"they can't get through this, though" he said, as he created a crude shield out of light. Ganjes laughed, and returned to his customers. The guardian proceeded to the 2nd tower to report to the warlock vanguard. Walking through the tower, he greeted all the workers, and made an effort to avoid talking to Banshee. He just reminded Elys of what may happen to him, forgetting the last conversation he had, even forgetting a loved one if it got bad enough.

"ah, Elys. Do you have my report?" asked Ikora, calmly turning around to face the guardian.

"here it is. I think the journal is getting pretty full. After I leave, I think I'll buy a new one."

"that would be a good idea, guardian." She said, skimming over the notes, scrawled over the paper. The last few lines made her eyebrows scrunch up.

"what's this about a Fallen sneaking into the Cradle? This is very suspicious. I'll have some Hidden posted there to prevent any more events like this" she put the book on her desk, and looked out to the traveler

"if this means the fallen are going to make a move, traveler, give us strength." Elys slowly slipped out before the vanguard has a chance to make a huge speech. As always, he went to Zavala to get his next patrol assignment.

"ever since the red war happened, vex activity on Venus has slowed. We should make sure it stays that way. There will be patrol beacons active there, use one to notify us when you arrive. We'll coordinate from there" as he took those last words to mind, he transmatted to his ship, and set course.

Mithrax paced in his ship, unsure of what to do. He dreamt weird things, but nothing too notable. The servitor floated in the corner, growling silently.

"just staying won't help. I need some action." The Eliksni stopped at a table in the hanger he had set up. Grabbing his Ether canteen, he resumed mumbling to himself.

"Augh, I can't decide. Syivax, set a course for a random planet." He ordered. The Servitor glided into the cockpit, and manipulated the controls, sending the Skiff into subspace. In a few minutes, the tunnel gave way to a planet covered in red. This planet was used by the Cabal as something of a front for their invasion. It's been abandoned by the main military since the humans defeated them on earth not too long ago.

"I guess we can work with this. Send us down" Gurgling affirmatively, Syivax lowered the ship into landing. A canyon by the looks of things. Myth got out, and as usual, told his servitor to stay put. The distant noises of a sandstorm approached as he made his way across the desert, until he came onto a small town, half buried by years of erosion and sand buildup. He traversed through the streets, looking for any kind of entrance. Most of the doors had dunes blocking the way, other's mechanisms were jammed.

"ah! There's one!" one door, leading into a 5-story building, was wide open. The old lightbulbs long burnt out, only the ambient light from the windows granted sight to the dark interior. There were random human and non-human skeletons here and there. Some old cabal armor was on the floor, some of it still sparking.

"what happened here?" going in further, the bodies kept increasing, until he got to the end of a hallway. There were scorch marks on the wall, and ashes on the ground. At the very end, was a body slumped against the wall.

"a guardian? Here?" said the Captain, inspecting the corpse. Usually, they would just jump back up, as if nothing happened. This one wasn't. it was nasty, slug holes everywhere, a cape was burned up to the scarf.

"what's this?" he took notice of a hunk of metal laying on the ground. It was made of white metal, with gold highlights, and a sphere in the middle of it. There was bullet hole going straight through it.

"so odd. It looks valuable, though." Mithrax picked up the dead piece of machinery, and strapped it to his belt. In the distance, he heard the faint howl of cabal war hounds, and decided to leave before they found him. When he eventually returned to the ship, Syivax was waiting just outside.

"I told you to stay hidden. Whatever, dispense a quart of Ether." Some gurgling followed, and a thick stream of gas poured out of the center of the servitor's eye. The Ether drifted into the canteen, much purer than the last batch.

"much better. I should put this in my diffuser." The Fallen walked over to a machine at the back of the Skiff, and plugged the Ether canteen into a hole. Soon, a few glass canisters filled up with the white gas, which Mith promptly took out, and put into a pocket in his robes.

"for now, I'm going to leave this here. Syivax, keep this safe." He put the machine on the table, then left the skiff again, but not without the Servitor buzzing in agreement.


	4. Chapter 4: a captain's journey

**The Forsaken**

**Chapter 4: a captain's journey**

**-two weeks later-**

The skiff was almost quiet as a clear night on earth. The only sounds that of Syivax beeping and gurgling, and instruments in the cockpit. Mithrax sat in front of a table near the wall, staring at the mysterious machine sitting on it.

"what is this thing? I think I've seen one near a human once… or at least an alive one" he grumbled before heaving up into a stand, then turned towards the front of the ship. Walking to the front, he signaled his servitor to come over.

"Syivax, set a course for earth. There's something I want to see" the floating machine obliged, attaching itself to the ship's navigation computer. Soon enough, the stars melted away into the subspace tunnel, until they emerged just outside earth's atmosphere.

"I'll take it from here" said Mithrax, steering the ship towards a mountainous area on the planet. through the clouds, he could see faint flashes of light, like from a cannon. careful to not be within firing range, he landed the ship a few miles away from his target location

"I'm gonna bring that object with me, syivax. alert me if there is any activity nearby, and keep the skiff in low orbit." the servitor gurgled as mithrax jumped out, and began heading up the mountain. the cloud cover was thick enough that he wouldn't be spotted from above, yet his own vision was clouded.

_the humans must have such reverence for this place _he thought, mithrax had only known the place to be where many eliksni skiffs are shot down and destroyed, among other craft. as he poked out of the cloud cover, he marvelled at a large old world complex. a mass of rusted iron and cannon batteries, patrolled by human-form machines painted red. the captain waited until it was clear of robots to move further in, admiring the ability of the humans to keep hold of the place for so long. he swiftly climbed to the top of the building and sat down, then stared out across the vast mountain range, until he took sight of something on the distance.

"Is that... the great machine?" said Mithrax, squinting his eyes to see better. yes! he knew just by it's white color, and spherical shape that it was the great machine from the stories. the captain sat there, staring at the Traveler for a solid hour, until almost like deja vu, there was a sharp "hey!" behind him.

"Fallen scum! how did you get up here?!" the eliksni slowly stood up, and turned around. it only took a split glance to notice it was the same human from before, standing there brandishing a gun in his direction

"you?" growled mithrax, lowering his arms as slowly as he had stood, making the guardian lower his gun in confusion.

"you're- you're that captain from Io... the same one who sneaked into the cradle?" as if something had clicked in his head, he felt the need to yell,

"why?! why are you always in places of light?! How do you keep sneaking in?" he lurched forward, fist clenched.

"misraaks do not know..." the fallen said despondantly, looking down. he slowly turned around to face back to the traveler, pointing to the white orb in the far distance.

" great machine, left eliksni... race fell. no leave terra, what different?" Elys walked forwards, and holstered his weapon.

"when the darkness came to us, the traveler didn't leave, it stood its ground to protect us. just before the collapse happened, it used it's last breath to create ghosts, and they created us, guardians." Elys turned towards the captain, and took off his helmet, revealing his face to a fallen for probably only the 2nd time ever. Mithrax's eyes widened, this human was not flesh, but machine!

"you..."

"are an exo, yes." said the guardian, turning back to the traveler.

"this place is where many guardians and fallen alike lost their lives. the fallen houses stormed this complex, as well as the Last City, and had it not been for one of our heroes, possibly the entire human race would have been wiped out."

"Misraaks understands, humans... deserve great machine..." he sat back down, and pulled out the tiny machine from mars, turning it in his clawed hands. _ghost, eh? _just as he was about to put it back into his bag, Elys glanced over,

"w... where did you get that?!"

"red planet" replied mithrax in reverence. this tiny little robot was responsible for the gift of life, he had only seen these things when guardians died, floating in the air.

"did you kill someone to get it?!" yelled Elys, pulling a sidearm out, pointing it at the captain's head.

"no, was there, near dead human" he replied, looking down at the ghost again. the exo slowly put his gun back, realizing the it was a salvage, not a murder.

"you know what... keep it. it's dead, a piece of metal that is useless now." he said, turning back.

"stop, misraaks team with guardian?" the Eliksni asked, as Elys stopped in his tracks. quickly glancing over his shoulder, he shrugged then threw a device to the fallen's feet.

"it's a transponder. if you ever desperately need my aid, press the red button." and just like that, he disappeared. mithrax picked up the transponder, and put it in his bag. the trek down the mountain, away from twilight gap went about the same as before, foggy, and now colder, as day turned to dusk. the captain radioed Syivax to bring the ship back down, then boarded. he would have much more to think about now.


End file.
